


New Lease On Life

by kittyface27



Series: Dragon Works [11]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace wants adventure, Action, Adventure, Betrayal, Cheerful, Depression, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Hiding Identity, Humor, Impel Down, No Spoilers, Rescue Mission, a good captain, ace builds a crew, ace has really big bounty, ace is a smartass, ace is fun, ace is super strong, ace isn't related to anyone in canon, ace kills lots of people, ace teaches haki, ace trolls marines, ace wants revenge, ace was close with queen, allies with whitebeards, aquatic zoan fruits, baby ace is tricked, dragon - Freeform, hiding identity from the world, lots of devil fruits, lots of haki, made up devil fruits, making fun of isuka, new world pirate in the east blue, overpowered maybe, sabo and deuce can't help laughing, takes place during Law and Luffy alliance, takes place during wano arc, very brief alcoholism, water dragon devil fruit, whitebeards and spades get along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29522895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27
Summary: After a five year old Ace eats a powerful SMILE, the Beast Pirates take him in. Brainwashed into thinking they're his family, the betrayal hits that much harder. After that, Ace decides to start his life over and make his own crew. One that cares for one another. Getting into all sorts of trouble being a New World pirate in the weaker seas, he builds his crew and lives for himself.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Portgas D. Ace, Masked Deuce & Portgas D. Ace, Portgas D. Ace & Beast Pirates, Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace & Whitebeard Pirates, Spade Pirates & Portgas D. Ace
Series: Dragon Works [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1982363
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42





	1. A Fateful Fruit

**Here's the next story! No romance in it, lots of humor and drama. I loved writing Ace in this. He's a complete smartass and has such the attitude. There's some really sad moments in the next chapter, though. I'll give the time line next chapter since things don't always add up. Ace is not related to anyone he is in canon, he's a random orphan from Wano's poor parts. Some swearing and typical violence, and a lot of made up and probably impossible devil fruits. This is more the prologue as there's a time skip after this chapter. Enjoy~**

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Ace, a five year old boy, stood in line to eat one of those SMILEs so he could get some food in exchange. It couldn't be so bad, smiling all the time. He frowned all the time, so smiling shouldn't be so bad. The line was long, and he was very hungry and thirsty. Hopefully he'd get enough food for another day, then he could go fishing again and try to eat the non-poisoned parts.

He was all alone in life. It's all he'd known. And being around other people was tiring when he was so tired, too. He'd rather be by himself, traveling through the forest he lived in. He'd be fine to live alone his whole life. It was much better than being around other loud people who cried a lot or laughing too loudly. Or the just mean people. The line got shorter, and most people left the line smiling brightly.

See, smiling wouldn't be too bad. He'd have nobody to smile to, but that didn't matter much. At least, not to Ace. The person in front of him ate the fruit, only one bite of the spotted apple, and left grinning and laughing. Ace put his empty basket down and took the smiling fruit and bit into it. It tasted bad, but it was food, so he ate the whole thing. But he didn't smile.

He reached up for the food he was supposed to be given, but he was directed to the side. "Hey, I was supposed to get food!" he protested, his stomach roaring in painful hunger. He tried to pull away but he was a small and malnourished child. They stopped walking once the line was out of sight. The man who took him aside didn't look very nice.

His smile didn't seem right. Well, maybe it was, Ace couldn't tell. "You just ate a devil fruit. Do you feel any different?" Ace looked at his hands, but didn't feel different at all. "Well, it worked on you. You aren't smiling like a loon. Try to imagine yourself changing into an animal." Ace wondered why. So he asked. "We want to see what your devil fruit power is," the guy explained, strangely patient.

Maybe he was actually a good guy, since he was being nice to Ace. "O-okay," Ace said, and imagined his body changing into a cat. A black one, like his hair. But that didn't happen, and instead, the next he knew he was suffocating in the air, heavier, the size of a large dog. He flopped around, trying to get air in.

He was grabbed roughly around the side, still trying to gasp in breath before they were back at the food area. He was put in the water, a big tub, and started to breathe again, only it wasn't through his nose, but slits on his sides. He could see perfectly fine in the clear water. He didn't feel thirsty inside, and popped his head out. There was a crowd of shock around the water bin he was in. it was a huge bucket, and it felt nice. He swam around in a little circle, his back legs and tail doing the most work.

"Can you try turning into a human again?" the nice guy from before said. He was grinning, while the others around looked shocked. Ace changed his body again, back at being a five year old. He couldn't touch the bottom of the water barrel, and clung to the side. All of his dirty clothes were now soaking wet. He got a nice bath, though!

He managed to climb out and go to the front of the line to get his food. He'd done what they said, and he was hungry. But he was pulled away, instead. "You'll have a much nicer life now. You're very gifted with that devil fruit," the guy said positively. "We have a long journey to go, but you'll have a better life."

"Really?" Ace asked in disbelief.

"Really. You'll have food and water whenever you want." Ace asked why. What he had to do to pay for it. You always seemed to have to give something to get when it came to other people. It was complicated being around others. He hoped this new life had him by himself. Maybe living in a little shed and having food and water all by himself. "You'll work for Kaido-san."

Ace was put on a horse, only it had a human half. "Speed, take him to Queen-sama." Ace frowned, wondering where the nice man was going. He just grinned and waved Ace off. The horse spoke, though.

She said, "My name is Speed. Make sure you hang on tight, okay? What's your name?" This one seemed nice, too. Ace had always had the impression that the leaders were mean. He saw them being mean sometimes, to the villagers, when he went to trade things for water or rice. They got hit a lot. Ace never went to help, they weren't his friends. But he didn't really like the treatment when it made people cry.

But then he'd found himself in a village where everybody laughed. He lived in the forest next to that village. Everyone was always happy. And the people who came gave them food that made them happy. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe the guys were actually good people. "I'm Ace. Why is this? I am poor, where am I going?" Speed was riding slow and easily so Ace didn't fall off.

"You must look promising if Batman got you." Ace commented that he was a nice guy. "Well… sometimes. Did you eat a SMILE? It was a success, right?" Speed asked patiently. Ace liked her so far. He did wonder where they were going, and he was hungry. Though the gross apple had been filling, he was still hungry. His stomach rumbled. "Why don't we get some food and then we can talk?"

"Yeah! I'm hungry," Ace said excitedly. He was so tiny that he could barely hang on Speed's back. She brought them further into a town, and they went to a vendor, something Ace had never seen before. She ordered something that smelled good. She didn't need to pay, so she must be important.

"Here you go, Ace. Wait for it to not be so hot. You hold a fork like this," Speed said, and showed him how to hold the strange thing. He got the hang of it quickly, and ate the delicious food. He loudly said it was yummy. Once he was done the plate was taken away, and he was helped back onto Speed's back. She again asked what fruit he'd eaten.

Ace animatedly explained what had happened. But it was scary he couldn't breathe. "I thought I was gonna die!" Speed was quiet before she said she'd never met somebody who had an aquatic devil fruit. "Why?"

"Well, devil fruit users are unable to swim. They all drown, but you didn't. That means you're special." Ace looked shocked, and asked if special was good. Or if it was something bad that he could fix. "Being special is a good thing. This means you can do all sorts of things others can't. Like travel in the sea. The sea that is big and blue. Not the polluted gunky water from where you came from."

The five year old felt happy. He was special and could do things others can't? He kicked his feet a little bit, humming happily. Did that mean he could go explore the ocean by himself? Would he make friends with the fish? The living fish, not the dead and creepy looking ones in the river in the forest. "When am I going back home?"

"You'll have a new home. Much nicer," Speed said, still patient.

"I like you, you're nice," Ace said bluntly, looking around in interest as the scenery changed as they rode further away from his origin point. He was happy he ate the apple, even if it tasted bad. He had people being nice to him and he even got some good food without having to trade anything. Speed said she liked him, too.

The five year old was happy, excited for this nice life they were promising. He hoped they weren't lying or he'd be very sad and angry. He hummed most of the way while Speed brought them across wide expanses of land, trees, barren lands, mountains. He watched it all in interest. He didn't know Wano was this big and diverse. He always thought the whole place was polluted and smelly.

He was happy to be out of the other place. He hoped those people kept smiling and being happy. He would try to be happy, too, even if he didn't smile like the others. Or laugh. They always thought something was funny. They never told him the jokes, though, so that wasn't nice. He finally said something. "Did you eat an apple?"

"I did." Ace asked why she wasn't smiling, then. "Because my SMILE was different. Like yours, my fruit was special. That's why I have the body of a horse. And why the others who were gifted with fruits like yours have animal properties. Batman had bat ears."

Ace frowned and looked down. He didn't look any different. "But… I don't look any different. Is there something wrong with mine?" he asked in worry. Was there something wrong with him? Was it cause he was special? Was being special actually bad? And Speed was being nice for him.

But the woman said, "That's just another thing special about you. There's nothing wrong with that. Queen-sama looks different, too. Different from the others. He's very big. Bigger than anyone you've seen. Since you're so small, he might be a bit scary." Ace said he wasn't small at all. And that he wouldn't be scared. He didn't see her smile, but also one with a hint of sadness. He couldn't see, though.

She explained the three All-Stars, and Ace was interested in being called a star. Stars were pretty when he could see them around the smelly smoke. It was early in the morning when he ate the SMILE, so they had lots of time to get wherever they were going. Ace wasn't impatient at all. He enjoyed the scenery.

"Do I get to be on my own in my new life? I like being alone," Ace said. He pouted when he was told he wouldn't be lonely. "But I like being alone." Then he was told that he might be by himself once he was better at his devil fruit. But he was little, so he had to be supervised. Even though he'd lived by himself for the longest time. Ever since he could remember. Maybe… maybe he could get used to other people. He wasn't sure.

There was no more talk before they found a nice house. The sky was muggy beyond there, so he was glad to stop there. They heard cheering and singing from inside, and Ace wondered what it was, if there was something exciting inside. He heard singing sometimes, by the nice guy with blue hair.

Speed opened the door, and Ace saw a ton of big people. The one singing was _huge!_ He had pants that went up super high and were black and white. He also had funny blue glasses. Everyone else went silent, and Ace frowned, wanting to hear more singing. "Speed, what's with the kid?" the big guy asked in interest and also confusion.

"Queen-sama, he ate a successful SMILE. One that makes him able to _swim,"_ she said. There were gasps around, and Ace was lifted off of the horse. Everybody was so much bigger than him, he had to admit, he was a big boy but these people were bigger boys. Queen expressed disbelief, but he told somebody to draw a bath.

It was a huge tub that Ace was brought to. He was hesitantly set down inside. They had their hands out in case he started to drown. Speed encouraged him to change into his devil fruit form. So, he remembered the creature he was before. He morphed and was able to breathe under the water, swimming in small circles. He liked being in the water more than the air.

He could totally live in the water all by himself. It felt good. He heard shouts of shock from the room, outside of the water. He popped his head out. Queen was looking at him with his eyes bugged out. "Wow! Kid, what's your name?" he asked. Ace clung to the side of the tub to keep his head above water since it was so deep and he couldn't touch the bottom. "I'm Ace." Queen smiled and laughed, saying that was a nice name. Ace didn't understand why, but thanked him, being polite. Speed stayed by the tub as Queen got a stick with a snail on the end. Ace dipped back under and swam a little more. The water was nicer to breathe than the air.

He wondered why everybody was so shocked. Surely there were other special people like him who could swim. Speed had said the SMILEs make you into animals. So there were no animals that could swim? It seemed kind of strange to him. Surely there were swimming animals. Like alligators.

Through the water, Ace could hear Queen animatedly talking to somebody that was hiding in the snail head. The water was easy to see through and hear through. He could also hear a whoosh sound that he assumed were from the slits in his sides. He wondered what they were, and poked one with his clawed fingers.

It hurt a little bit, and he looked at his hands. They were black and scaly, the nails kind of small and blunt. He could move them like his usual hands. He looked at his feet, but noticed these were definitely not like his normal feet. They were bigger and the toes were further spread apart, with webbing between the toes.

He also had a tail. It didn't look like a fish tail, the rotten ones that he saw sometimes. It was more like a snake, but with fins along the top and bottom. It pushed him forward quickly when he wanted to go forward. He wasn't really paying attention to the outside anymore, just enjoying his new form. He didn't know what the rest of him looked like, but he had big fins coming from his back.

They looked like bird wings, only scaly and thinner. They made him turn quickly. Getting the hang of this was easy and fun! Hopefully his nice life would let him swim a lot. Queen reached inside and pulled him out, but he started to suffocate and writhe around. He was immediately put in and breathed through the gills.

The man clearly wanted him out of the water, so Ace changed back. He took a deep breath of air. It was scary, being unable to breathe. "Sorry about that, I'll make sure no one takes you out of the water like that," Queen said, smiling brightly. "That is quite the devil fruit you've got there."

Ace smiled, "I like it, too! I like swimming." Someone muttered how weird it was for a fruit user to enjoy swimming. Speed had said they drowned, after all. Queen was smiling and said it was good he liked it.

"We'll be on a long journey soon, to see Kaido, the big boss. He rules over Wano from behind the scenes. He's a dragon, too. That seems to be what you are, too." Ace blinked a few times and then asked what a dragon was. "Someone draw a dragon," Queen demanded. Soon, a man came over with a drawing of a wings serpent. It was like a bird snake.

He stated, "That's cool. I want to be a dragon, too!"

"I said you are."

"Oh, okay."

Queen took a deep breath and then asked how old Ace was. He said he was five. "A blank slate, then," the huge man said with a grin. "So, what kinds of things do you like, Ace?" He was still in the water, but was fine with that. He was fine at hanging off the side and he liked kicking his feet in the water.

"Um, I like eating but sometimes I don't have food and it makes me a little sad. I like climbing trees, too," Ace said.

The large man with the blonde braid told him he'd never go hungry again. Ace beamed. "You like climbing trees? Then we'll have to get you a tree, huh?" Ace asked what he meant. "Well, your new room should have a tree! And a large pond or lake for you to swim in." This new life he was being promised sounded wonderful. He couldn't wait!

Ace smiled and then remembered what it was like before he came in. "Will you sing again? That sounded fun."

"Damn, I like this kid!" Queen shouted. "Very well, let's start again!" and the party resumed. Ace was having a lot of fun and started bouncing up and down to the music. He'd never really heard anything like this. It was exciting, and Ace didn't remember ever being this happy or excited. Eating that gross apple was really good! And it didn't make him always smile. But he was smiling now, which was something very new. But he was happy, so why not smile?

After the party was over, there was dinner, and Ace ate as much as he wanted, which wasn't much. After that, everyone went to a little house outside the main one. He looked for any grass to sleep on, but there was nothing. "You should go to bed, Ace. We're having a long journey tomorrow."

Ace asked what a bed was. "Right there. That's where you'll be sleeping," Queen said patiently and pointed to a white and puffy mat on the floor. He walked to it and stepped on it experimentally before deeming it was nice, and he laid down. He saw a blanket and pulled it over him. This was nice.

"I like this bed," Ace said, snuggling into the blankets. Queen promised he'd have an even better bed than that soon. Ace fell asleep comfortable, and not hungry. It was nothing like he'd ever experienced before.

When he woke up, the little house was moving, being carried by other people. The nice tub was moved towards the door, and he went in and napped at the bottom. Queen wasn't singing, so it was easy to sleep. He had just had the most comfortable night from ever before. He was given new clothes, though they were too big.

It seemed they'd been modified from normal clothes, but they weren't ripped up or dirty or smelly. It was nice, but they still got soggy in the water after he went inside. Nobody bothered his little tub. Big to him, but little too. He got bored eventually and went to the surface and climbed out. They'd made him a little stone staircase for him to get out easier.

"Queen, will you sing some more?" Ace asked, grabbing onto his leg.

"I'll sing some more later. When we get to your new home, we'll have a huge show! With lights and everything."

"And food?"

"Lot's of food! Especially red bean soup." Ace asked what that was. "A delicious food. I love it, but won't share it so don't even ask." Ace nodded, saying he would be happy to have rice. "You'll get much more interesting food than rice, soon." Ace beamed and plopped down on the same bed he was on last night.

He asked Queen what his devil fruit was. If he could swim. If he was really big. If he was special, too. "One question at a time, kid." Ace nodded. "My devil fruit turns me into a brachiosaurus. It's really big, I'll show you sometime. I can't swim, only you can do that." Ace smiled at being special. He was special just for being able to swim? That seemed silly, but everyone said it was a big deal. Maybe they all wished they could swim but were sad they couldn't.

"What do I turn into?" Ace asked curiously. "I don't see it look like anything before. Uh, I didn't see anything like it before," Ace said, correcting his poor grammar. The second time was a lot better. He heard Queen mutter something about a five year old, but he didn't really register it was in irritation.

"I'd assume you're a water dragon. That's what'cha look like. Some day I'm sure you'll get very big." Ace looked forward to being big. The journey was long but comfortable. When they got someplace new, it was to the ocean! There was so much water that Ace wanted to jump right in. Queen told him explicitly that he couldn't swim in the ocean without having permission.

Ace easily agreed. Onigashima looked like a skull, kind of scary but also cool. They got onboard a boat to sail to the island from where they were now. Ace ran to the side and looked over at the waves. The ocean seemed so big. But then he had a question. He turned to Queen and asked him why he went on the ocean if he couldn't swim.

"That's a great question! Muhaha! It's because we're reckless pirates! Nothing can make us back down, not even the ocean. That's the life of being a pirate. It might not count you, you don't even need to be on a ship." It didn't sound like an insult. When the ship swayed, he fell to the side and hit his arm. He pouted but didn't cry. He rubbed it and it didn't hurt too much.

Queen picked him up with one hand and sat him down in the other. He easily fit in it, and sat and watched the stormy sea even if the sky was clear above. They got closer to the island, and Ace was excited to see what happened next. What place he'd see, what the inside of the skull looked like. Queen said it was nice inside, so Ace wondered what "nice" looked like.

They landed there and Ace was sat on Queen's shoulder so he didn't go missing or get into the ocean and be swept away. He kept on the big man's shoulder like he was told to. When they got to the entrance, Ace saw how different it looked up close than from far away. It was so colorful and fanciful. He got distracted by everything, but he did as he was told and stayed on his shoulder.

"When is the singing?" Ace asked.

"Later. First we have to meet Kaido and introduce you. Do your best to be calm, okay? And don't be too loud, he might be hungover again," Queen said. Ace didn't know what that meant, but he'd not be noisy, and promised to be quiet. He wasn't a very loud person regardless, but he would still make sure to be quiet.

When they entered further, he was put down but was to stay near. He sat on Queen's foot and clung to his leg, and the guy seemed fine with it. It made it easier to keep Ace still right there. He was so tiny compared to him, though. Compared to everybody, really. Everything was huge and he was just so small. Maybe he wasn't as big a boy as he had thought before.

Well, he'd grow as tall as Queen some day. Surely, because he was special, right? Then he'd be big and strong. And his dragon fruit would make him dangerous and strong and cool and he could eat whatever he wanted! They arrived at a large door, and saw a _huge_ man. He was scary looking, but Queen had been scary at first, too. The man, Kaido, had a big bottle in his hand and was glaring down at Ace. The boy fidgeted.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Ace."

Kaido asked him what his devil fruit was. "Ah, Queen said it's a dragon, a water dragon! But I can't breathe in the air, it's scary." Kaido didn't really react, but stood up and Queen told Ace to follow. He had to run to keep up with the massive man. His legs were so much bigger than Ace's, so he fell behind and the captain didn't slow for him.

They entered a room with a _huge_ tub, so big and wide and Ace wanted to swim in it. "Queen, you're sure he won't drown?" Kaido asked, not sounding concerned, though. Ace wasn't paying attention and jumped in when he was told to. He transformed and swam around really fast, enjoying the big tub. He came back up and saw Kaido was now smiling.

It was kind of a creepy smile, but it was a smile, so that meant he was happy. Ace made him happy? He was special, right? Could he have a room like this? "Ace, you'll become a powerful pirate that will cause all sailors terror. Welcome to the crew."

Ace didn't know what he meant, but it sounded fun! He didn't know he had no other choice, but he willingly agreed to join the pirate crew. As a five year old, there was much to teach him. He'd do his best to learn.


	2. A False Life

**Vann_Dorothy: Lol, I do love dragons a lot.**

#### PancakeLord: Dear god, your comment only now made me realize that their names are based on card names -_- I was always like, "Why does Jack have a normal name, but the other two have those names? A weird coincidence." OMG my family totally laughed at me over it lol. 

**Pia_Pia: ＼(＾▽＾)／**

#### SvalbardGirl: Aw, thank you! I'm glad you like my stories! Lots of stuff happens in this fic and I enjoyed writing Ace as both this badass dragon and a smartass brat lol.

#### chickie434: You didn't have to wait long. Poor baby :(

#### ISawAGh0st: I'm so glad people aren't tired of dragon characters based on how many damn fics I've written with them as dragons lol. I still have one other waiting, and one that I'm on the fence about posting. 

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**Enjoy!~**

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-12 years later-

Ace swam under his target's ship. He was sent on this mission to off a vice admiral who caused Jack some trouble a while back. Ace got the smell of him off of Jack's damaged ship, and so he swam hundreds of miles to find the source of that scent. Maybe doing this slowly, methodically would raise his bounty. He was still trying to get his above the other All-Stars, but he wasn't brutal enough.

Even though he was named "the Terror of the Sea", he still wasn't as popular as he wanted to be. He wanted to blow Jack out of the water, but that wouldn't be happening anytime soon, it seemed. Sure, he was 17 years old, but he was still a giant in his dragon form. It sucked he could only be that form underwater. Not that he hated it. He just wished he could use his fruit on land.

But, he rarely went on land. He slept inside his big room in Onigashima, but other than that, he stayed in the ocean. He was the only All-Star with no men serving under him. He was a solo-artist, and was happy with that. His missions were usually to go abroad. Queen always threw a massive party when he returned, having a soft spot for Ace. And he liked Queen back, even though he knew his younger self had thought he was a better singer than he actually was. Though he'd never dare say that.

While Ace had gone through a long period of his life where he craved attention, that faded quickly, and he was back to how he was before, enjoying the silence around him, being the only one around, not having to waste energy on other people when he could spend it alone and comfortable.

He raised himself for his spikes to come out of the water like a shark's fin, showing just what was coming for them. The marines on the ship saw him, what was visible from above the water, and started screaming. Ace nudged the ship to the side, going to take his time tormenting the enemy. The ship slammed to the side.

"Don't be afraid of hmi! Shoot for the eyes!" vice admiral Smoothie shouted. It was a common misconception. That his eyes could be damaged. They would be fine if they were stabbed or shot at. That wasn't his weakness, the gills were. A blow to them would easily knock him out. But nobody ever got close enough to deal any damage.

To the world on land and ships, Ace was one of the natural disasters that you could not avoid. Nobody had ever gotten away from him. Not once he was ordered to take them out or they pissed him off. Either one gave him permission to destroy anybody or anything.

Bullets were shot into the water, but they were useless. Not only because they didn't deal damage, they were significantly weaker once bullets and cannonballs hit the water. Ace really did seem unstoppable when he was below. The only devil fruit user who can swim. Even after twelve years, no other aquatic SMILE had been created.

"Don't give up!" Smoothie shouted, though he sounded frantic. Ace got bored and swam off a bit only to barrel forward faster and crush the ship in his hands. He wrapped his body around it like a boa constructor, crushing it into pieces. Smoothie was cursing him, and Ace grinned. He grabbed the man, now trapped in his rough hands, and chucked him into the distance. The other marines were screaming his name.

"Why don't you call and report me?" Ace asked. "I'll spare you if you report my presence here. And how I one-shotted your vice admiral." The marines shook as they promised, and one even got a floating den den and reported the attack. "Good. Would you like me to kill you now? Or would you want to die by sea king?"

The marines shook, and he smelled piss in the water. Then he laughed. "I'm just fucking with you. Good luck surviving!" Ace said and swam off. He made sure Smoothie was dead before swimming off to get something to eat, preferably red sea kings. Those were the best. While people starved at Wano, Ace had a buffet table around him at all times in the ocean.

He made his way back to Wano leisurely, stopping at islands to get something good to eat besides raw meat. He had money with him at all times. Kaido had it too, a pouch beneath the stomach that could store things. For Ace, it was treasure, mapping supplies, and other necessities for travel. Kaido's was full of spare alcohol.

He stopped on a chain of islands, and saw they were a Whitebeard protected island. Well, Ace wasn't there to do any damage, he was hungry. People screamed when they saw him, but he did nothing threatening.

In human form, he was far from intimidating. He'd never grown to the sizes his fellow All-Stars had. He was the size of a regular human young adult. His freckles didn't exactly make him threatening either. While he wasn't bothered by his appearance, he did wish he was larger.

He assumed he made up for his statute as a human for his size as a dragon. "Hey, I'm not here to hurt anybody," Ace said to the nearest vendor. "I'm just hungry. I even have money to pay you," he pulled out some coins from his pockets that he'd taken out of his stomach before he got on land.

The man at the takoyaki stand made him the food with shaking hands. Ace took the plate and exchanged it with the right amount of money. He ate the food happily, threw away the trash and thanked the man. He threw an extra coin to him since it was cooked perfectly. Everyone was silent around him, shocked by how he acted here compared to the persona he was known to have to other pirates and enemies.

He jumped into the ocean and transformed, swimming away. He did end up passing a Whitebeard ship, but it wasn't the Moby Dick. Ace had always been fascinated that Kaido was once on a crew along with Whitebeard and Big Mom. How strong that crew must have been! He decided to freak them out a bit, because why not? He didn't sense anybody overly powerful.

But, he did smell something delicious. He swam up to it, dwarfing its size. He popped his head out. "Hey, hey you. What's that smell?" Ace asked, his voice light despite the terrifying face, the slitted eyes and teeth as long as a full grown human arm. The people on the ship were shaking. "C'mon, I know somebody is cooking something good," he said, growing impatient.

"T-Thatch! Commander Thatch!" someone shouted, the one not stuck on their ass in fear. He heard shouting and breaking noises from the cabin, and then there was somebody with big hair and a chef's outfit on. He was glaring at Ace darkly. Ace wasn't bothered.

"You got any food?" he asked.

"Not for enemies."

Ace groaned, the noise sounding like an irritated growl. "I'm not out to kill you. I wanna taste whatever smells so good." He was declined. Ace's eyes narrowed. It smelled good, and now he was dead set on tasting it. "Either you let me try it, or I'll get it myself. I'll even pay you, how about that?"

This commander Thatch, who he'd never heard of, sighed before telling him to wait. Ace did so, and pulled some money out of his pouch and dumped it on the deck. Thatch wheeled out the food. Ace grabbed the skewers and ate them in one go. They were the size of mint candies to him. But they tasted delicious.

He knew he couldn't ask the guy for the recipe or anything, but damn they were good. "That's damn good. See? How easy was that? See ya," he said, and dived, swimming away from the enemy ship. They hadn't done anything to him, and Ace didn't exactly want to face Kaido's wrath if he put them in a war for hurting any of Whitebeards' children. Ace couldn't imagine having that many "kids" under you. It wasn't as much as the Beast Pirates, but they didn't all know one another. The Whitebeards did. How could you remember so many names?

He thought of trivial things as he made his way back to Wano. When he got to the waterfall, he climbed up the rocks jutting out easily. The water flew down enough for him to breathe just fine through his gills. He was an expert at climbing by then that it only took a couple minutes before he was back in the tumultuous Wano seas.

When he was younger, he needed help training to swim in waves like these. Queen would help and Ace would have a rope tied around his belly as he was attached to the ship and tried to weather the harsh waves, throwing him around. But he was perfect at it now. He went to Onigashima and gave his report to a drunken Kaido. It was nothing new, he was always drunk.

He ran into Queen on the bridge, and Ace called his name. "Hey! Queen, wait up!" Ace called, running over.

"Ace, you're back. Did you go wild?"

"Of course, my bounty won't get any higher if I play it safe. I got you something." The other all star looked disgusted as Ace reached into his throat and pulled something out. He dipped it in the water and wiped it on his shorts. He tossed it to him. The man caught it, even if he looked disgusted.

It was a button of a dinosaur with a microphone. "I found it on the ground at one of the islands. Thought you might like it," Ace said with a smile. Queen burst into tears and Ace laughed. He thanked him and pinned it to his suspender. Ace knew he'd never wear it if it hadn't come from Ace in a sentimental way. "I'm gonna go back. Have fun at Udon." And Ace dove back under before transforming.

He swam around the country and then back to the waterfall, the only entrance in, and napped at the bottom, enjoying the pull of the rapid and intense current always whipping around uncontrollability. Despite its difficulty to navigate, Ace easily rode the currents around to get from place to place.

So, when he heard the drag of a ship in the waves, his head perked up and he was irked at his rest being interrupted. He swam back a bit before looking over the ledge and seeing a submarine being pulled by fish up the waterfall. That was new. He waited for it to come up all the way. If it was a normal ship, then it wouldn't be able to see him there.

Ace knew all about the outside world besides Wano. He'd left the country many times so he was educated about the world outside the bubble. So, he did recognize what this ship was. Once it dipped back below the water and the fish were let go, Ace followed it for a bit with it unable to see him. No doubt the people inside could feel him with haki.

If they were strong enough to make it here, they had to have haki. Before it landed on one of the shores on the island, Ace grabbed it with his hand and turned it around forcefully. He heard screaming from inside, swearing profusely. It seemed nobody expected him to be there? Did they think they could get past him?

If they'd come another time, they would have gotten to shore, but Ace was not on a mission right now. He pushed it up to the surface and inspected it. But then there was a blue circle around him and he swam back. Out of the way. Looked like he couldn't get close to it. Well, he'd figure out some other way to break it and bring it back to Kaido.

No doubt he'd find it interesting. Ace didn't recognize the marking on the side of it, but he wasn't very interested in other crews that he wasn't targeting. Just like he'd passed by yonko ships more than once. He was never seen, but he'd gone past Shanks and Big Mom's kids multiple times.

A few weapons were fired at him, but he easily dodged into the water. He swam deep down and picked a rock up from the seabed. He swam back up and out of the water before chucking the boulder straight at the sub. He could tell that they'd be able to stop a cannon, but Ace's throw was much more damaging than a cannonball, and this rock was much bigger.

It hit the sub with a deafening crunch, and screams were heard, in pain and horror. Ace grabbed the sub and swam with it to Onigashima. There was one guy with a long nose begging for his life. "You shouldn't have invaded Wano if you wanted to live," Ace said casually. "I'm taking you to Kaido." There were screams or horror and terror. He stayed under the ship as it seemed the devil fruits did not reach him under there. The blue sphere had not returned, so Ace assumed he'd knocked out or killed the fruit user responsible for it.

They got to Onigashima easily, quickly with Ace swimming there directly. The waves crashed against the sub, the people aboard having to hold on for dear life or getting washed off of it and to their deaths in the Wano ocean. When they got there, Ace took the sub around the back and picked it up easily and put it in the closed harbor so it couldn't escape.

He transformed and hurried through the halls to Kaido's room. But he wasn't there, though all of his empty sake bottles were. They were all huge, bigger than Ace had been as a child. That was 12 years ago, but they were still huge compared to him. They were for someone giant, so it made sense, of course.

He smelled them, also catching the scent of the other All-Stars. Ace wondered why he wasn't invited. They could have called his snail, which was with him at all times. He stopped outside of the door, not knowing if he should enter. He didn't know what the meeting was about, so he didn't know if the intruders were more important to report and interrupt it.

So, Ace waited outside the door. He wasn't eavesdropping, but he could hear what they were saying with his better senses. They should all be able to tell he was there, but they seemed too distracted or something. He listened but most of it was trivial things he had no interest in. He didn't work with those on land, so it didn't really involve him.

But he was usually involved with the meetings, even if he played no part in them. So, not being invited was annoying and he wasn't happy about it. Then he finally heard his name mentioned. "When are we getting rid of him?" Jack asked. Ace froze, and held his breath. "We agreed years ago and we've never followed through. He's a liability."

Ace was sweating. They agreed to make him leave? More likely they wanted to kill him. He waited for at least Queen to defend him. He liked Ace the most but he didn't say a thing. Instead King commented that Ace had become very useful. "He does jack shit."

He listened, clenching his shorts in his hands. Kaido said that his fruit was the best one they'd gotten since the beginning. But that it was a shame it was in a five year old boy. He also expressed disappointment that Ace didn't kill more. The teen didn't understand that. He killed a lot of people! Always people he was told to.

Finally Queen stuck up for him. "He kills people all the time."

"But he doesn't even kill civilians. He stops at islands and _pays_ for food. It makes us look bad," King replied. Queen didn't disagree with that, and stayed silent. He was right, Ace didn't kill for no reason or damage things. He just didn't. Nobody had raised him _not_ to, it just didn't seem fun or right to do.

Kaido said, "We'll use him for a while more. For the main plan, he will be instrumental. We can't lose him yet. After that is over and a success, I'll order him to attack Marineford as a warning to the World Government we aren't pissing off and are separated from the world. If he dies doing that, then I'm sure he'd be happy to do so." He took a guzzle of his drink. "If he comes back, he'll still die."

They were going to send him to his death. What would they do if Ace got out alive? Would they keep him? They were his family, right? That's what Queen told him when he was little, and then said that a crew was a family. Was that just being told what he wanted to hear? He'd been five, impressionable. They'd molded him into somebody strong, yet he wasn't good enough?

He had tears down his eyes and ran from the room, back outside he saw that the pirates or intruders had broken open the gate and stole another ship. Ace couldn't care less. He needed to think. He jumped into the water and swam to the deepest part of the Wano sea, where nobody could reach him.

Completely alone to think. And he did, but not for very long. He looked at his hands at his powerful and strong body. He remembered being a little dragon, picked up and put in little pools. He remembered getting bigger and bigger pools. And then there was when he was first let into the ocean.

Queen had been happy for him and had made a concert for the occasion. He laid his head down and let his tears mix with the seawater. _He'd_ been planning to kill Ace, too. They betrayed him, they would have betrayed him if he stayed. He went to the surface and looked at Onigashima, his home for as long as he could remember, his warm room with the warm water, his fluffy bed, the good food. He was completely betrayed and it _hurt._ He liked being alone, but going back to see them every once and awhile was nice. It balanced out his time to be alone. He took one last look at Onigashima.

Then he swam away. He wondered what they'd think. They wouldn't know he had been listening in. Or maybe they did and just didn't care. Well, he wasn't going back. He didn't need a ship, or food or water to live. He had all the food he had, could swim anywhere. He was freer than anything or anybody.


	3. Despair and Resolve

**Vann_Dorothy: Baby never deserves any of the things I put him through lol.**

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**Brief *attempted* alcoholism in this chapter. And some lovely characters to help him out! Enjoy~**

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Ideally, he'd burn Onigashima down, but he didn't want to be hunted for it. He never wanted to see any of them again. But what would he do? Make his own crew? But then he'd have to be around people more. But they'd be people he picked. Maybe he'd do that. But he would need to think about it first.

Going to Paradise to start wouldn't be so bad, but he was sure he'd get bored in that sea after living in the New World for his whole life. Would anybody join him? Or would his bounty and strength scare them off? He didn't know what he wanted.

Well, right now, he wanted a drink. He rarely drank since he was only 17, but he wanted some and he'd get them. He wanted to drown out his feelings in any way he could, and he couldn't drown himself for real. So he'd turn to booze like so many did. He swam to the nearest island, the nearest place he could smell humans.

He had no log pose, nothing. So he went from island to island with his senses. He landed there the next morning. When he got there, he went to a little shop and snatched a string and tied his hair up in a short ponytail and smeared some dirt across his freckles. He wished he had a shirt, so he found one on a clothes line and took that.

Soon he was not so recognizable, and he went to the nearest food stand. Food before alcohol. He bought a sandwich and ate it before asking where the nearest bar was. He didn't need something fancy, just alcohol. He didn't even know what kind he liked. So, he went to the nearest one just down the street and walked in.

He asked for their strongest alcohol. The money he set down got the bartender's attention, and he didn't ask Ace's age before he handed him a shot glass. Ace asked for the whole bottle. "Trust me, kid. You won't want to drink the whole bottle," the bartender said in a knowing voice. Ace frowned but took the shot.

It was disgusting, but the burn down his throat felt nice. He asked for any drinks that he could have by the bottle that would keep him drunk for a while. "How old are you?" the guy finally asked. Ace replied that he was 18. Close enough and beyond the drinking age. He pulled out a wad of money from his pocket that he'd gotten out of the pouch filled with money.

The guy took the money again and gave Ace a large case of bottled booze. He didn't even ask what it was before leaving the bar. Since it was the middle of the day, not many people were there. Just some guys that looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't place them right now.

Not when he was already feeling drunk. He got behind the building and took a deep breath before he threw up the drink. He grimaced and wiped his mouth. Well, that one was strong, surely these bottles wouldn't be so bad. If they were, how the hell could Kaido handle that? How could anybody drink that much?

He walked along the road before he came across the wooded area and looked up to see a cliff. That would be a nice place to be alone. He walked into the woods, making sure not to drop and break his alcohol. He climbed the mountain easily and made it to the cliff by a little after noon. It was higher than he'd thought, and he had to go around trees too thick for him to go through.

When he got to the cliff, and took out one of the bottles and popped the top off. He sniffed it and recoiled. He hesitantly took a sip and then spit it out. "Damn it!" he hissed. He'd have to ignore the taste. He'd be drunk and then wouldn't be so upset. But maybe he shouldn't hang off of the cliff to do that.

He scooched back a bit and then managed to drink the whole bottle. He held his hand over his mouth and didn't throw up, which was an accomplishment. He had five more bottles. There was no way he could drink all of that that night. He waited a bit to drink the next one, waiting in case he threw up again and wasted the booze. Even though he had plenty more money, he still didn't want to waste too much.

What were the others thinking? Did they think Ace was just asleep in the water? Or did they know he left? Would they come after him? To kill him, or to take him back? After thirty minutes, he started feeling drunk and swayed to the side a bit. Then he fell backwards, laying on his back as tears cascaded down his face.

His silent cries turned into full blows sobs of hurt and betrayal and the feeling of being useless. He wasn't worth anything to anybody. Those he thought cared about him were only using him. Ace knew he was helpful to them, but he had thought he was more than just a tool. He thought Queen cared about him. Ace had known him since he was little.

The first person he remembered showing any long term care. Even if Ace raised himself quite a bit, Queen would put on concerts for him when he asked. He rolled onto his stomach and beat the ground, screaming and sobbing. He finally tired himself out and passed out. He didn't even realize three people were watching him.

When he woke up the next day, he saw there was a bucket near him, and a bottle of water. He jerked up, but then threw up into the bucket. The bottles he'd paid for were gone. Then somebody came out of the forest. He recognized him easily. Ace took a drink of his water. He shouldn't be surprised. It was a protected island, after all.

He turned back to the ledge, but put his hand over his eyes from the sun. He didn't like this feeling. How did nobody at home - at his old home - not be like this every morning? How were they not sick every day? They drank so much, all pirates seemed to. It looked like Ace wouldn't be doing so for now. Or forever. Last night was not worth this. Besides, he'd fallen apart even _after_ drinking.

Looked like drowning his problems in booze wouldn't work. He didn't know what to do to make himself feel better.

Phoenix Marco sat next to him, but not too close. "Ace, right?" Ace nodded, though he knew it was only formality. Everyone knew Ace. Looked like his disguise didn't work. He thought he did it fine, but apparently not. "What are you doing here?" He didn't sound accusing. Probably since Ace was obviously not in the right mind or condition to turn violent. They also weren't near any water.

"Drinking. But you took away my alcohol," Ace said. Marco commented that most of his alcohol was now in that bucket. "I'll get more used to it. You don't have to worry, I left the Beast Pirates. I won't cause any trouble for you." Marco seemed shocked by that. Two others gasped and he knew there were others watching.

He didn't really care. They could kill him and he wouldn't care. He just wanted to be drunk again. He hadn't had any dreams during that, so it was nice. He had a feeling he'd have upsetting dreams if he hadn't been drunk when he passed out. He took another drink of water, thankful for it. He thanked the Whitebeard pirate for the water.

Marco slowly, hesitantly asked why Ace left the yonko crew. He had been a huge figure on it, after all. It wouldn't make sense for him to leave when he was one of the highest in the ranking. One of the "All-Stars". Though he seemed to never have been one. He was played. Maybe they were glad he stayed in the water so he wouldn't fuck things up.

Maybe he was useless and unwanted the whole time. They raised him to be strong and he failed them somehow. He pulled his knees to his chest. "They were going to kill me. I didn't know. I thought they were like family. Queen acted like it. But they were gonna kill me cause I'm a liability. And I make them look bad by not attacking islands or regular people," he explained. There was nobody else to talk to. Why not talk to someone who will either kill him or leave him be.

There was no point in being scared or closed off. Nobody would ever approach him now. Not when he was so infamous and well-known in the New World. He probably wouldn't be known in Paradise. He could be a starting out pirate. That sounded nice. It really did. But he wasn't sure on any plan yet, and he was still hungover. Wouldn't make plans in this state.

"I'm sorry that's happened. You thought they were your family?" Ace nodded.

"It's stupid. Pirates aren't family. I was tricked. They got me when I was five and 'raised' me. I thought they liked me, but I was wrong," Ace said, sounding like he was whining. He was asked how old he was. "17." Marco frowned.

He sincerely said, "It's not wrong to think of a crew as family. Some are just not able to be like that." Ace nodded. Clearly that was the case. The Beast Pirates were not a family. They were a crew, like a business _. Pirates_ , not family. Ace was stupid to ever think that.

How had he not noticed before? "Can I ask how you met them?" Ace said he didn't really remember. He was five. All he knew was that he ate a SMILE and then got his power and they took him in. That's all he remembered. "What are you planning on doing now?" After all, he had nowhere to go and nowhere to return.

Defecting made him unable to return to Wano. If he did, they'd no doubt kill him on the spot for betraying. Then they'd have a real reason to off him. "I don't know. Making a crew sounds nice. Real people that care about me. I'd probably start out in Paradise, start at the beginning. Even if it's a little boring. I don't know, I'm drunk, I won't make any decisions right now," Ace explained honestly.

He rested his chin on his knee. "Are you gonna kill me?" he asked Marco. And the other two pirates with him, because that's who they've gotta be. Nobody else would come here, to meet someone with a bounty barely over a billion. But maybe that bounty was only because he was part of that yonko crew. Maybe he didn't really deserve that.

Ace wasn't as strong or deadly as he once thought. Not enough to be kept alive. When would they have killed him? Soon, or could he have proved to them he was useful, he was worth keeping around? But he knew things would never be the same after learning their plot and how they really felt about him.

The commander shook his head. "There's no point in killing you. I don't sense any ill will from you, and you sound like you're being honest." Ace felt a twinge of sadness in hearing he wouldn't be killed. He liked being alone, but not like this. Maybe it wasn't being alone that he liked, but having his own space to himself.

But now, he was _completely alone._ Nobody to talk to, even if it wasn't often. "You should kill me. There's no point anymore. I'm not a pirate anymore, so what am I? I'm alone, I'm fine with dying. I just wish I won't go to hell for everything I've done." Marco had a face of true sadness on.

"You could always go to an island and live there," Marco said. "Dying isn't the solution to a problem, it's a short cut to the end." Ace frowned. It wasn't like he could just live on an island normally. He had a bounty poster everyone had to have seen. He'd be recognizable. So he said that, and Marco said that was true. "I'll probably just live in the water and never come up."

The other yonko pirate asked if that was what the former yonko pirate wanted. "I've always liked the water more than the land. It won't be so bad. There's food everywhere. Nobody bugs me if I'm asleep. I should be fine," he said. Then he stood up, swaying around a bit before Marco caught him.

He asked if Ace had ever drunk before. "No," he said. Marco said he drank way too much for his first time. Ace didn't reply, but tried to walk on his own. He honestly thought they weren't there to kill him. They offered to get him some food. He finally saw the other two. One he recognized and the other looked like somebody who would live in Wano.

"I've seen you before," he said. "Sorry I was rude. The food smelled good." He was surprisingly not sounding completely smashed even though he was hungover. The geisha-dressed one looked at him curiously.

"Did you live on land or with Kaido?"

Ace said he used to live as a starving little kid but then he ate the SMILE and they took him to a better life. He didn't remember much, other than being hungry. And everything smelled bad. "I see." He said nothing else.

They led him to a breakfast place and got him eggs and tomato juice. It looked gross, but they said it was good food for a hangover. So, he ate it all. He felt sick, but it passed after a few minutes.

They asked what the hell he was doing when he stuck his whole hand down his throat and pulled out a wallet with bills in it. They looked disgusted. "There's a pouch that I store stuff in. Like money and maps and stuff. Kaido had extra alcohol in his." Thatch, the one he'd been rude to before, and Izo the kimono clad man, asked if he was an alcoholic. "He's drunk 24/7. I've never seen him not drunk."

After they ate, well, after Ace ate, they left, and Ace went to the shore and walked into the water. "Where are you going?" Thatch asked. Ace said he would go to the next island. There was nothing to keep him there. It wasn't his home. Nowhere was. He wanted to go on a swim anyways.

The three Whitebeards looked upset about it. "I won't hurt any of your other islands," he promised. They still were frowning. When he was waist deep and about to drop over the ledge that ended the beach area, Marco asked, "Do you want to meet Pops?"

Ace stopped and turned around, asking why he'd want to do that. "He said he wanted to meet you." Ace asked why, confused. To kill him? He was a higher up enemy. He probably didn't seem like it to these people, but he was stronger or as strong as all of them. He was a kid, and he was weak and vulnerable when he was drunk and upset, but he was strong.

Unbeatable in the ocean.

"He said you sound interesting." Well, Ace wasn't interested. He said he didn't want to. They all looked very sad about that, and he swam off, changing shape and heading towards where he smelled the next island. It was very faint, so he knew it was far from there.

-x-

Ace found himself at the Wano waterfalls. Why had he come here? They were to kill him, yet he swam back without realizing. Maybe he could talk to them… maybe his absence made them think differently. Maybe they missed him. But he'd defected and had talked with Whitebeards in a friendly way.

But he had to try. He climbed the waterfall. Then King was there at the top. "King!" Ace called, getting right over the falls and swimming inland. The pteranodon looked at him with almost hostility. "What's wrong?" he asked in worry.

"You left for three days. Where did you go?" he asked coldly. Ace frowned, his top lips going over his bottom teeth to create a clear frown. He said he'd felt stuffy so he left for a bit. He'd been on a break. "You're lying."

Ace was very worried now. "I'm not. I left for a break," Ace responded, sounding angry that he wasn't being believed, even if he knew it was a lie. He'd left to defect. He had left because they were to betray him. They were to _kill_ him, and now King was copping an attitude with Ace? It should be the other way around.

"You were safer away from Wano, Ace. We know you heard about our meeting," King said coldly. Ace's heart was beating in his chest, his gills working overtime in a way of hyperventilating. He had to slow it down.

Ace said he had heard. "But is there a way for me to fix it? Like, be meaner to enemies, kill other people who did nothing?" Anything for him to be welcome. Anything for him to have a place to belong. But he was shot down.

King replied, "If you were capable of that, then you would have been doing it for a long time. You aren't capable of being a Beast Pirate Ace. It really is a shame since your devil fruit is so useful. But you as a person aren't." Ace demanded to know what Queen thought, since he liked Ace. "Queen doesn't care. Don't think you're special just because he told you you were when you were five."

Angry and sad tears were in his eyes, but they dripped down with the water still coming off of his large head. "There's no point in you being here." Ace spat water at him, getting it in his face. He called the man a "fucking flying prick." King was angry and dive bombed Ace only for him to be grabbed and thrown off of the cliff.

Ace took a breath of water and dove off of the side, aiming for King and bit him hard, destroying one of his wings. He grabbed him around the waist and threw him up the falls so hard he would land on the island, either Wano or Onigashima.

Nobody fucking betrays Ace. Not even other All-Stars. He _was_ one. He was not a weak teenager, and they were mistaken if they thought that. How could they, they were the ones to help raise his bounty, making strong and dangerous! How would they forget that? Fucking assholes underestimated him.

He knew they would come after him now, but he didn't give a shit. If they did, he'd sink their boats. That was it. He dropped into the rapids with a splash, able to breathe again, and swam away from Wano for the final time. There was no going back, no reason to. Fuck them all. He would kill Queen some day. Some day, when he found the man that fooled him for over a decade, he'd kill him. Bite off that long neck.

It was their own fault that Ace had this devil fruit. The only devil fruit known to man that would grant the user an aquatic zoan. He was unstoppable in the water. He would prove he was the strongest thing in the ocean. _He_ was the sea king. And he would prove it. Where would he go first?

He'd prove to Kaido and the All-Stars, do something none of them could. Maybe getting clout for Ace's accomplishments would piss them off. Getting false credit would be humiliating to them. So, he'd go to the easiest place for him to attack. He turned towards where he knew the Red Line was. It let off a strange sensation that was easy to trace if he focused just slightly.

He swam past ships, but didn't harm them. They were small pirates. He wasn't on a mission or in the mood for destruction. But he did run into another submarine, only it was tiny and a shark. He swam right passed it, the people inside freaking out as a dragon far bigger than their craft swam away.

He made a current that made the shark submarine spin around a bit, but then it righted itself and Ace was from them, no longer hearing their shouts of horror and amazement. Ace continued on, swimming quickly, eating some nicely sized sharks on his way. He stayed relatively deep, not seen but sensed by anybody with good enough haki.

It took him a full week of rapidly swimming, not counting the hours he spent asleep, to reach the Red Line. He'd never been here before, but he knew how it worked well enough. He had to go to the bottom of the ocean and pass through the hole that was Fishman Island. It was incredibly deep. Any person down there would have exploded long ago from the pressure.

But he knew fishmen could handle it. That was pretty cool. He'd only ever met one fishman, Jack. Though he didn't look like one in the ways Ace had imagined them. He was sure he was wrong, that they didn't have fish tails out of their butts with two legs. He did know how mermaids were supposed to look.

Ace didn't give a shit about relationships. Had never been interested, had never visited a brothel, had never gone to watch geishas dance or whatever they did. He was anti-social to the max except with Queen and those that lived in Onigashima. He saw Speed sometimes. She was one of the first kind people.

But now he had doubts about that. That she wasn't just thinking he was a tool as well. Something easily thrown away once it was used. He wondered if King was dead from blood loss from that bite. Ace hadn't bitten hard enough to go right through him, but enough to scar badly. He grinned. King would look at the scar everyday and know Ace was the one to give it to him. It was satisfying.

The dragon zoan felt no love, no affection for those of Wano. If any came after him, they were dead. Regardless of who they were. Regardless if it was Queen, Jack, even Kaido. If Ace died fighting, then that was that. He would not wallow in despair anymore. Or regret or hurt. He would bathe himself in his hatred for them.

Hate was easier to feel than sadness. He wondered what would have happened if Ace had waited to see Whitebeard. He had no idea, but didn't regret passing on that one. Maybe he'd see Marco again some day. He seemed like a good guy. And Ace wouldn't drink again. It was terrible. Not worth the buzz or the passing out.

The sea was black, and Ace had trouble seeing. He still could, but it was not sharp and perfect. He was good enough to not be bothered by the creatures down there. Not just sea kings, but massive fish. But, they didn't approach Ace due to his size. He ate one, but it was bitter and he spit it out. That created a feeding frenzy that he just missed. After swimming for a good half hour, he reached the bottom. The darkness turned to light, really amazing to Ace. He didn't know how it worked, but it was incredible. The trees came from above, somehow bringing light. At least, that's what it looked like.

The space between the seafloor and the bubble was more than spacious enough for him to swim through. He wanted to get to Impel Down as fast as he could. He wanted to prove a point. But there also was another problem. Ace, after being drunk and after leaving Wano for the last time, was truly thinking of building a crew. One not only based on strength and usefulness, but of friendship.

He didn't know what friends were, or how to be one, but he would try. Cruising the ocean alone for forever… it sounded lonely and miserable. For once, he didn't want to be alone. So, the problem was that he didn't want the marines in Paradise to be after him from the start. He wouldn't let himself be shown. But he knew Kaido would know it was him.

So, maybe he wouldn't get the credit for this. But, then Kaido would know he was in Paradise. Well, he'd never leave Wano for something like Ace leaving after they betrayed him first. It was only right that he retaliated. They were lucky he didn't destroy Onigashima. He could have, if he planned it out.

He would have been able to get gasoline there without looking suspicious. Then he would have doomed them to a burning island, destroying any ships that could help them off. That would have been easy, but at the time, he was emotionally damaged. He wasn't thinking about revenge then, only his sorrow.

When he got close to the island, he pressed himself against the wall and crawled through, hearing screams around but ignoring them. Just because he was now acting out by anger didn't mean he'd change so drastically to kill random and innocent people. That's what they had wanted, and that was something he'd never become.

He swam out easily, back to the dark ocean, up and up. When he got to Sabaody, the spongy island, he knew he had some things to get if he was going to start his journey over. He transformed back into human form and climbed out of the water. There had been way more sea kings on the way down than the way up. It was nice being able to avoid storms that ships had to deal with.

He pulled out a sack of treasure from his mouth and put it in his pocket. Nobody saw that. When he was in human form, when the pouch shrunk, everything else did with it. So it was easy to pull out coins or other objects because they were shrunken down more. If it put a knife in there, the pouch walls were solid, so a sharp object would not damage him.

Finding some normal looking people, Ace asked them politely if they knew a place where he could get navigating tools. They directed him to a busy part of the island. He walked through the rough parts, but nobody recognized him. He just looked like some guy. Ace knew that wanted posters in the New World did not circulate to Paradise. Nobody in Paradise would know who he was. What his bounty was, where he came from.

Marines were stupid, but not _that_ stupid. Once he came into the spotlight, they'd know who he was and assign him to his original bounty. Unless he disguised himself. He grinned, dedicated to making a fresh start. He would, damnit. He had more than enough money. Hundreds of millions, and he knew ships in Paradise were exponentially cheaper than the New World.

Everything would be cheaper because there would be more supplies. Life would be easy in Paradise. Hopefully not too easy.

When he found the correct shop, he got maps, log poses, normal compasses, anything. Rope as well, just in case something happened. After that, he searched for a hair place. A hairdresser. He'd only gotten his hair cut before, never styled. So many people in Wano had fancy hair. Of fancy colors, as well. Pinks, blues, greens. In a dry country, some parts of it were quite colorful while the rest was colorless.

When he went inside of the place he was recommended to by a lady with fancy hair, he saw it was a colorful and exuberant shop. People were in front of mirrors on the wall, having their hair dyed or cut. He saw magazines on the wall and opened them, looking for anything.

A woman walked to him, and asked what he was looking for, since there was a seat open. Ace smiled a charming smile, and she blushed. He didn't understand why, really, but it didn't matter too much. He walked with her to a chair and she put a wrap around him. "I just want to look unrecognizable, but not ridiculous. Not somebody who took up too much attention, so no rainbow hair." She looked at him for a bit, and then asked if he wanted to keep it dark. Dark would look better with his skin tone, and he really thought he couldn't pull off blonde.

Terrible hair might bring attention to him regardless. "How about a dark red. Very dark, burgundy. It will look different, but not by too much. And with your skin color, that shade would mix well. Do you still want it longer?"

Ace knew he'd needed a haircut for a long time. "Shoulder length maybe? Or right above that?" he asked. She smiled and said she'd make him look good. He nodded and leaned back for his hair to be washed. The coloring process took awhile, but he waited patiently. After about an hour, the cutting began. He purposely didn't look at the mirror, as there was no going back now, so disliking it would just make him feel worse.

Once it was done, Ace looked at his new hair. You could barely tell it was a shade of red. Just a dark red-brown. He looked pretty good, and also different. Once his hair grew back out, he'd be more recognizable. It would be fun to build up his bounty from scratch! Ooh, he was excited. After it dried, he paid them and with a tip, before leaving the shop.

He looked around for something else to make him look different. He found a silly orange hat, and thought about buying it. On one hand, it wasn't something he'd ever have worn before at Wano, but the other, it made him more obvious. Which did he want? He decided to think on it, and bought it. He also bought basic medical supplies.

Then he went and got his shorts changed. They looked like cargo shorts now. He kept the boots. After eating something good, he decided it was time to head to Impel Down. But then he paused. What would be the point in destroying Impel Down if he wouldn't be recognized? He was thinking too much, it was ruining his plans.

Nobody would know it was him, but everyone on Onigashima would suspect that. Would anyone suspect he'd actually travel to Paradise, or one of the Blues, or that he'd stay hidden or active in the New World? Nobody would come after him this far, he was sure. Wano was very far from the Red Line on both sides.

Kaido could fly, but not long distances like that. Well, not really fly at all. He would create clouds he can walk on. To be fair, Ace couldn't fly either, but he could get from point a to point b a hell of a lot quicker than Kaido. Plus, the eastern dragon's fire couldn't penetrate the water if he _did_ end up finding Ace.

He stood at the shore of the island, wondering about what to do. To blow off some steam and feel strong would be for Impel Down. But thinking rationally, maturely despite his age, bringing attention to himself so soon by the wrong people could be a pain later. Yeah, he would wait to destroy any government bases.

After stuffing everything he'd bought into his body, he looked around before sinking into the water, deep enough to not be seen, before following the homing skill that would bring him to the other side of the Red Line.

He didn't bother anybody on his way. Not marines, not pirates, nobody. And he stayed underwater exclusively. He wouldn't bring attention to himself, especially not towards the last part of Paradise. Plus, he skipped everything so it would be more surprising when he came back with a crew.

This would take awhile.

* * *

**This chapter takes place when the Strawhats from WCI are on their way to Wano. He passed them by. So, the Wano arc does exist and is ongoing during the beginning of this fic, but no more time is spent on Wano for awhile.**


	4. Sabo and Deuce

**Ace starts to build his crew in this chapter! Enjoy~**

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A few weeks later, he found himself in front of the Red Line. Reverse Mountain. How would he get up it? His dragon body was way too big for that narrow space. There was a huge whale that was there before, but it had fled once it probably got a sense of what Ace actually was.

He paced back and forth in front of the mountain. If he could breathe out of water, then he could have crawled up the side. He had to find another way. A bit away from him, he heard the whale making a ruckus. He walked over to see it slamming its head into the Red Line, as if it was trying to get through to the other side.

Then he got an idea. He'd make his own path! He dove into the water and swam down, deep. Deep enough to see just fine, but deep enough that it would be impossible for anyone on the surface to see. Once he was down there, he started to dig his talons into the wall and pull. He wasn't pushing like the whale. It was nice that he had hands like this.

Pushing inwards would get him nowhere. So he pulled the rock apart. It was very time consuming, but he _was_ making progress. He was on the side that would take him to the East Blue. He hadn't meant for that, but it was what would end up happening. He wasn't really bothered, any of the Blues would be fine.

What would it be like to be in completely calm and sea king free water? He wouldn't have much to eat besides big fish or sharks. Maybe whales. No sea kings, sadly. They were the tastiest. It took him two days, punctuated by nights of sleep, to get a hole through to the other side. He couldn't fit through as a dragon, and it would take a long time to get it that big. He deliberated. He could die doing it, but he was impatient. And reckless.

So, he transformed into a human, glad it wasn't so deep that it would kill him, and swam through the space he'd made. It was wider the nearest to his starting point, but it got narrower and narrower, the reason why he had to go in his small form. But he made it out, only his face was red and he was uncomfortable.

But he transformed the moment he was free and took in deep breaths into his gills, relaxing a bit from the hard swim. He was a lot more out of shape when it came to swimming as a human. The water was practically still. And he couldn't smell or hear any loud whoosh sounds, the sound a sea king's gills made.

It was quiet. Nice, but also boring at the same time. He could sense islands, multiple ones, and randomly chose one to start out at. He swam towards that one, passing many. He wondered where he'd get a ship in the East Blue. There had to be somewhere, right? He had more than enough money.

It didn't even need to be an extravagant ship that went fast. Ace could pull it. But as he swam he wondered how much he should say to anybody he befriended. He would tell them his devil fruit, but not about who he really was. Not his billion berrie bounty. Not the fact he had previously been an All-Star, and not the fact that he'd declared war on the Beast Pirates by injuring King like he had. He didn't care, they couldn't reach him there. So, he'd be honest without saying anything about his past. One he wanted to forget but would also hold onto to spur him forward.

He passed ships, mostly trading ships or small marine vessels. He didn't bother them. Then he came across somebody floating on a broken ship. He was dressed fancy, looked about Ace's age. He was alive and looked interesting. Ace wondered what had happened to him.

He put the guy on his back, just barely reaching the surface of the water. Deep enough that his gills were still underwater. The guy was on a huge back, parts of the wings that held him glide, but not swim. Ace heard him shout in shock when he woke up, and Ace moved them to the nearest island.

He made it to the shore, and the guy jumped off and ran back a bit. Ace popped his head out of the water and then transformed and climbed up the side of the island. It was high, so it was fine. The guy was shocked. "Yo. I'm Ace," Ace said, sticking his hand out. He could tell this guy was very weak compared to Ace. Well, it was the East Blue and Ace lived in the New World. It was to be expected.

"H-How are you a dragon, too?" Then he said, "I'm Sabo," and reached out hesitant hand. Ace shook it like a normal person, normal hands, no claws, which Sabo looked at closely. Ace explained he'd eaten a special devil fruit. "I thought fruit users couldn't swim." So he knew enough about devil fruits to be fine.

"Yeah, but mine is different, special, I guess." He was able to hide the bitterness of the word "special". He wasn't, after all. At least, not in the way he'd thought for 12 years. "What happened to you? Why were you on a broken boat?" Ace asked, sitting down to show he wasn't going to hurt him.

He was still on guard, even if he knew he didn't need to be. "I escaped my island but a celestial dragon ship shot it down." Then Ace noticed the burns on Sabo. How could he not have? He took out all of the medical supplies from his pouch and put them down. They weren't slobbery, the pouch and pipe leading down were not wet with spit.

He was glad he had burn cream and bandages. "I don't have much, but I can't take care of the worst parts, if you need." Sabo said it didn't hurt, but acknowledged that he couldn't let it get infected. He cautiously walked to Ace, but the closer he got, the more comfortable he became before he was sitting in front of Ace.

They decided to work on his hand, since it was the part he'd use the most. Ace put the burn cream on the bandaged and stuck them on his hand and around the fingers. "Sorry, I don't know much about medical stuff."

"Don't worry, I don't either," Sabo said. Ace pointed out that that should make both of them worry, and Sabo laughed, followed by Ace. He'd never been friends or even been around people his own age. Everyone else on Kaido's crew was older, sometimes far older, than Ace. he was the youngest.

"Where'd you come from?" Sabo asked curiously. Ah, the first question he had to debate. It was right to say he was from the Grand Line, but not the New World. That would need to be lied about. Not because he worried anybody he chose would report him, he just didn't want to be treated like he knew everything about sailing and the Grand Line.

Swimming was not sailing at all. So he'd be new to things as well. It would be fun to learn. But they'd need a navigator. At least he had all the tools necessary for the Grand Line. Not the East Blue, but swimming should be easy enough. "I came from the Grand Line." Sabo was surprised. He asked why he came there. "I'm looking to start a pirate crew. I wanted to start from the beginning."

Sabo asked if he'd get bored. "No, everything will be new. I've never sailed before. Only swam in my zoan form. Do you know how to sail?" Sabo said he knew the basics. "Wanna come with me, then?" he asked with a grin. "I'd be captain, though." Sabo looked like he was thinking over it. Then he looked at his hand.

"Sure. If I don't like it, I'll leave," he said, though he had a smile on. Ace was fine with that. He'd left his crew after all. Only he had a good reason to. "We'll have to get more people and an actual boat. I don't think it would be safe for me to just be on top of you the whole time, or when others come, that won't work."

Ace looked around, but couldn't hear anything, any civilization on this island. "We'd have to build our own and I'll pull it." Sabo sighed, but acknowledged they would have to make it themselves. "I have enough money to buy us a great ship once we're in the Grand Line," Ace said firmly. Sabo looked at him, obviously trying to see where he had all that money.

He explained the pouch he had as a dragon, and Sabo thought it was fascinating. He'd been used to others aweing his ability, but Sabo's was innocent. He just thought it was cool, not that he would make a good killing machine, a good guard dog, a good person to go on murder missions.

Well, that life was over. He and Sabo made and failed ship after ship until they finally settled on just a raft. They'd find a boat on the nearest inhabited island. The raft was used with rope they'd managed to make on their own, not using the one Ace bought. That was the one to go in Ace's mouth or around his neck to pull a boat or ship. He had no problem using his fruit in such a way to help out friends and a crew.

They gathered food from the island that Ace stored in the pouch and then were off. Sabo had no map, but he did have a compass that Ace had bought at Sabaody. They managed to find an inhabited island pretty fast, Ace listening for the sound of people. When they landed, their raft waited just until the right time to fall apart.

Ace was no longer a dragon, but a wet and shirtless teenager. It felt like years ago and not months that he worked under a yonko with one of the highest bounties out there. Was he really starting over? He knew he'd never forget. But it was like a whole new world here.

They had no belongings to carry around since Ace had them all in his body. The two walked into town, both having some money in their pockets. Ace had been honest about the amount of money he had, which was 980,000,000 berries. Most of that he'd gotten himself from taking out pirate and marine ships. Plus some from the stash that everyone got a handful out of.

Most of them used it for booze and sex, but Ace saved his up. He didn't know why he saved it, but he was glad he did now. Not having to waste money on food was good.

Sabo started heading into town, but Ace stopped him. "What?"

"We have to get your wounds treated first," Ace said. Sabo seemed to have gotten used to the pain and didn't seem to notice it anymore, but the burns really needed to be treated. "We have more than enough time to explore, but you gotta get treated." The blonde nodded, and the two easily found the hospital.

Ace waited in the waiting room, looking at the newspaper while Sabo got his burns treated well. He flipped through the pages, but there was literally nothing interesting. Nothing happened in the East Blue. It was shocking. Just over the Red Line awaited an exciting hell. He worried that anyone he met in the East Blue would be unable to handle the Grand Line. He had been born in it. He didn't know how to get anyone adjusted or how they would feel.

He'd just do his best to accurately inform them. It wasn't hell as long as you were smart and strong. He'd teach them haki on their way to the New World. He remembered how he was taught, and he could replicate it, though a little nicer. They weren't tools, they would be his friends.

After Sabo was treated, given medication to help him heal that Ace swallowed, everyone looked at him in horror so he and Sabo laughed. Ace touched his mouth. He laughed, a real laugh. "What's wrong?" Sabo asked.

"Nothing. Let's go look for a ship," he said, and Sabo grinned as they walked around the island, asking around for anywhere that sold ships. They only sold small fishing vessels. "Better than a raft, right?" Ace asked. Sabo agreed. They bought it, a meager 15,000 berries. Everything was crazy cheap!

The two got real food, non-perishables and long lasting fruits like apples and limes. No meat, since the little boat didn't have a kitchen. So nothing that needed to be cooked. They also bought a couple barrels of water and a map, which would help a lot. The two would know where they were going _specifically_ , not just land.

Sabo was much better at sailing than Ace, and taught him how to do basic things. Ace caught on quickly, but Sabo knew the terminology much better. The cabin was big enough to sleep in, though it was very tight and only had one bunk. So this wouldn't be a long lasting ship. They'd need to buy another one. "How much do you think a bigger ship in the East Blue is?" Ace asked curiously while he and his friend ate apples. Ace was sitting on the head of the ship, legs crossed. Sabo said he wasn't sure, but that they had more than enough money. "Yeah."

He looked hesitant before the blonde asked where Ace got all the money. "Stealing. From various people," he said, munching on another apple. "Also got money from my job, and saved it for a long time." Sabo was surprised. After all, Ace was seventeen and yet had nearly a billion berries, and apparently he got it all from stealing.

"Damn, you're good at stealing. I can't imagine stealing that much! We're very lucky to start out the journey with money." Ace nodded, glad he didn't push for more information. "Though it would be more like starting from scratch without money, you need it for food and supplies." The zoan asked what Sabo was planning to do if his ship had gone anywhere. "I've done my own stealing. But I lost it all when the ship sank. So that sucks."

Ace agreed, losing money would suck. He was so glad he had a pocket nobody could steal from. "Why'd you set out? You're not exactly very old."

Sabo simply said, "I ran away from home. They never loved me." Ace stilled, looking at Sabo in a new light. He was very similar to Ace. He ran away from a family that had never loved him. He wiped his eyes before Sabo noticed anything, since he was reading from a book. The only book they had which was about navigation.

Ace quietly said, "I ran away from home, too. I thought that they loved me, but they never did. I was wrong. It took me a long time to realize it, though." Sabo nodded, said nothing. He didn't need to ask any questions because he knew how Ace felt. Maybe not to a T, but both of them had family that they could not bear to live with anymore.

Though Ace was going to be killed if he hadn't left. So he felt things definitely were different, but the feelings were similar. Ace leaned against the side of the boat and took a nap before he heard some swearing from an island they were passing. Sixis, an uninhabitable island that they were planning to skip.

Ace looked in the direction the voice was coming from. He told Sabo they should go that way. "Something sounds interesting over there." Sabo looked at the map and told him it was uninhabited. "But I hear a person there," Ace replied. "We won't get stranded with my devil fruit. I just want to see who it is."

Sabo agreed, and steered the ship in the direction the captain said. "Hey, Sabo? Do you want to be the first mate?" Ace asked with a grin. Sabo blinked but then nodded, and said he still wanted to be help in the navigation. Since he was fascinated with it already. "The Grand Line will be a lot more exciting. I'll have to teach you about the log pose and everything."

"Log pose?" Ace nodded and explained that regular compasses don't work in the Grand Line. They had to follow the direction of one that points in a single direction. "Wow. That actually sounds really interesting!" Ace grinned and agreed. It was much more fun than the East Blue. "Why'd you start in this sea? What was it about the East Blue that you chose it? You had to go over Reverse Mountain, right?"

Ace nodded, but explained, "I didn't go over Reverse Mountain. I couldn't fit, so I dug a hole through the Red Line and just went there! What? I'm strong enough, it was fine. Took a couple days, though." He laughed at Sabo's baffled face.

The island Ace wanted to go to came into view, and it was just a beach island with some plants. He could see and hear now, the person making the noise. It looked like he was trying to get off the island with rafts that kept breaking on him. They stopped the ship outside of the reach of the whirlpools, and they put the small anchor down.

Ace dove under and secured the anchor to the sea floor, which wasn't deep at all. Now it wouldn't go anywhere. He and Sabo got off of the ship and swam to the island. Ace had Sabo hang onto his back in dragon form as he forced himself through the whirlpools easily. Nothing compared to the waves of Wano.

When they got through, Ace ran over. "Hey! You okay?" he asked. The blue haired and masked man was _not_ okay. He was exhausted and starved. He asked who Ace was. "I'm Ace. Who're you?" he wondered. He frowned when the guy refused to say his name. "Well, if you won't tell me, I'll just make you a name." He crossed his arms to think. He felt light. Like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest. This felt normal. He felt normal. The guy wasn't really happy about this, and Sabo was in the surf, picking something up. "Your name is Deuce." He was asked why _that_ name. "Cause I was thinking of a name for my crew. Wanna join?"

"I don't want to be a pirate. So, no thank you," Deuce said. Ace asked if he wanted to be stuck on that island forever. "You're never getting off now, either." Ace shrugged, and said he was sure that he and Sabo could get off easily. The mystery man looked pissy when Ace said it so casually. He'd clearly been beached for awhile based on how badly sunburned he was. And pale with dry lips.

"You think I haven't been trying for days?!" he demanded.

Ace lightly said, "No, I believe you. I just also know I can get off. Do you want to come along? It'll be fun with adventure."

Deuce really didn't look like he wanted to join, but Ace couldn't see him choosing death over his pride. True, Ace was a pirate, not a good one, but he wasn't a bad person. At least, that's what he thought. And that's what Kaido thought. He was too nice for their crew. He felt pride in that fact now. He was as strong as the other All-Stars, but he was a better, kinder person.

He killed. He had fun killing sometimes. He would be sadistic, but he wasn't that anymore. That was his past. But then Deuce asked him if he'd killed before. After all, pirates killed for fun. He didn't do that. But he had killed, and wouldn't lie to his crew. Because he was building a crew, and he'd be a good and just captain. Not a tyrant who only cares about a select few. Though "care" didn't really apply to the Beast Pirates anymore. Not to Ace.

"Yeah. I've killed before. I won't deny it. Sometimes I'm not a good person," Ace said simply, honestly. Sabo walked over, holding an orange devil fruit. Ace was focused on Deuce more, right now, and his reaction.

The blonde seemed to have heard what they were talking about. "Ace is a good guy. He got my burns treated when he didn't have enough supplies to do it himself. You don't have to join, but if you do, you won't have a tyrant captain." Ace nodded, smiling that Sabo was saying that. "I've been sailing with him for three weeks. He hasn't done one thing to make me uncomfortable."

Sabo was smiling, and Deuce was looking wary. "Where are you going?" he asked slowly. Ace announced that they were going to the Grand Line. "That place is a pirate graveyard. Why would you want to go there?"

Ace laughed. "It's so boring here! There are no storms or sea kings or anything. But, we'll travel the East Blue a bit so we can all get stronger. So, wanna come? It'll be fun and be full of adventure." Deuce looked like he was contemplating, and Ace gave him a moment before looking at Sabo.

It wasn't anything like a SMILE fruit, but it was obvious it was a devil fruit. There was no going around that. They didn't have a devil fruit encyclopedia, so it could be a random or useless one. "You gonna eat it?" Ace asked, sitting on the sand while Deuce continued to think, his face a mix of emotions. The captain was pretty sure he'd agree to join. He would just give the guy some thinking time.

They were in no hurry.

"I'm not sure. I've never been interested in them before I met you," Sabo said honestly. Then he grinned. "New life, might as well try new things. Plus, I want to be stronger for the Grand Line." Then he took a big bite out of it. Ace watched in interest.

"Do you feel any different?" He shook his head. "Imagine your body changing into something new. If it's a zoan or logia, that will work. A paramecia would be harder." Ace had already talked about devil fruits with his first mate and first friend. Sabo closed his eyes and suddenly burst into flames.

Ace clapped. "Nice! A logia!" Sabo laughed, probably so relieved he didn't get a stupid one. "Now you'll be intangible and unaffected by most attacks! Logias are the super ones that everybody wants. They're really rare!" His first mate was sharing the excitement. Ace said it might take awhile to get the hang of. "I won't let you burn a ship down, and dunk you in the water if you can't control it."

Sabo agreed, that was the only option. Ace turned back to Deuce, who was watching both of them in confusion. "Not all pirates are tyrants. I won't say I'm a saint, I've done bad things, but I won't hurt my friends." He said it very firmly, making direct eye contact with Deuce. "So, do you want to tag along for our adventure? The ship is too small for now, but we'll get a bigger one eventually."

Both of them were smiling and giving Deuce encouraging looks. Ace was so happy he made good friends with Sabo. But, he wouldn't tell the truth of who he was. Who he had been. Where he came from. Never. At least, not until he knew they truly trusted him and wouldn't leave because of that.

He was only a teenager. He'd been doing what he'd been taught. He'd been taught to be that kind of pirate since he was a young child. It was only natural he ended up like that. He felt Sabo would understand that well. Maybe not personally, since he'd never cared for those he'd left, but he was rational. He would understand just on a rational basis.

Deuce seemed to be confident after Ace put his arm over Sabo's shoulder. "C'mon, be our friend." The blue haired man nodded, slowly, and Ace beamed. He already had two nakama! He'd treat them well, and wouldn't betray them. If they were bad, very bad, then he'd just tell them to leave. But only if they were truly bad.

He was their captain, he was responsible for them. And that didn't mean throwing them away if they misbehaved. He'd be their friend, but also a captain. He'd balance that as best as he could. He wanted just teaching them how to be pirates, they were teaching him how to be a captain. Through experience with them.

"How are you planning on getting out of the whirlpools?" the newest member asked. He still sounded doubtful about them leaving the island he'd spent so much energy trying to get off of. Ace said they'd swim out. Then he turned to Sabo, and looked at him seriously.

"Sabo, you're a devil fruit user now. You can't fall into the ocean. If I'm not there to save you, you can easily drown. It will make you weak and powerless if you get in the water deeper than your thighs." He said it all in a serious slow voice. Sabo nodded, a look of determination on his face. He knew the risks and accepted them.

Ace didn't tell him about sea stone yet since it wasn't important at the moment. He'd learn eventually, but dealing with water being an enemy was enough for now. Deuce didn't interrupt, which Ace was glad of. It was a very serious topic and conversation, but he'd known Sabo would take things seriously and rationally.

He didn't seem like an overly emotional person. And he was smart, too. Probably smarter than Ace when it didn't come to pirating. Ace walked into the water, thrown around just a bit before he was deep enough and transformed into his dragon self.

Sabo walked along his tail still on the shore, and onto his back. He was being very careful, looking at the water apprehensively. He turned to Deuce, who was in shock. "I ate a special devil fruit. I can swim. Now c'mon, you wanted off this island, right?"

Their newest member nodded and gulped before climbing onto the massive dragon. He barely had to swim anywhere and they were on a small ship. Deuce put his small bag of things down. Sabo climbed up and Ace pulled himself up once he was in human form again. "It's not much right now, but we'll get an upgrade as soon as possible," Ace said of the small ship.

After being asked if he was hungry, Deuce devoured a few apples. Sabo worked to make flames on his hand, Ace monitoring closely. The blonde asked him about what he said about the crew's name. "Oh yeah! I was thinking 'the Spades'. Cause my name, y'know. It would fit! 'Ace of Spades'. How badass does that sound?"

Sabo said it was kind of cheesy but he was right about it flowing well with his name. "And Deuce's name fits with it, too. Sabo is my first mate." Ace said as he watched Sabo who was keeping an eye on the sea and compass. They were going North, to the next island that wasn't barren.

Ace wasn't planning on stopping at most islands. He just wanted a handful of capable crew members and a ship that could withstand the Grand Line seas until they made it to Water 7, the best shipbuilding island in the world. They'd make a wonderful ship. A big one, too. Ace had never been on a pirate ship, not really. Not a big one.

He had no need, since he didn't need one to navigate the New World or any ocean. His observation haki and senses were better than any log pose. Easier to follow, as well. His devil fruit really was badass, even if it was chemically engineered.

"So, where next?" Ace asked Sabo.

Deuce was quiet and uncomfortable. Well, it would take time to get used to it. It would have to be quicker since they were three on a ship that ideally holds one. Two if you stuff it. So, one of them would be sleeping outside. Not that they were in danger of being washed away by an intense storm. So, Ace would volunteer.

Captain or not, he was responsible for the safety of the crew. They weren't big time pirates who could take care of themselves. Ace felt like he had children and now was teaching them the way of life. He couldn't help but snort.

Sabo ignored it and said that they were heading towards Aso island. "That's a weird name," Ace commented. Deuce was watching, still silent. Ace was not uncomfortable being stared at. There was no way Deuce recognized him. He knew that. And he also knew it was unlikely that word of him defecting from the Beast Pirates.

Not only would Kaido keep that quiet, but no news of any kind made it in or out of Wano. Not unless Kaido wanted it. Then a newscoo would bring it only to him. Of course Ace knew about current events. At least, the basics of them. He knew about the important people in the world. Was educated well even if it wasn't with much kindness. He hadn't thought it was any different, though.

"The name used to be longer, but it faded out of memory."

"Cause it's old or cause the people on the island are stupid?" Ace wondered. Deuce cracked a smile, but tried to hide it. Ace didn't show he noticed.

Sabo said, "All of the island's residents are elderly."

"Really?"

"No, it's name is old. The people on the island are normal. I think. We'll just have to see for ourselves." Then he said Ace was to decide where to go. "If it were up to me, I'd just have us go everywhere. But we have to eventually get to Reverse Mountain. I made it near the Calm Belt, but stopped once I found you. So we're making our way back," Ace explained happily.

Deuce finally spoke, and it was to ask Ace how many people he'd killed. "I don't want to talk about my old life. Please don't ask again." He wouldn't tell them how many people he'd killed. Tens of thousands since there were always a lot of people on marine ships. "Do you want to talk about your past?" he asked, looking up at the newest member.

He wasn't getting along as well as Sabo had, but he could understand why Deuce was skeptical, and he wasn't _angry_ about it. But it may get to be annoying. He looked down, and said, "No, I don't want to talk about my life either."

" _Old_ life. You're a Spade pirate now," Sabo said. "All three of us don't want to talk about our pasts." Ace nodded.

"Maybe that should be our motto or some shit. Joining us is a new life. Regardless of what you were before, it's a new life with the Spades," Ace said with a smile. The other two both agreed. Deuce started to be a little more talkative, but not really participating heavily in conversation. Ace wanted a role for him to be in. Sabo was first mate and navigator. "What are you good at?"

The other two waited for Deuce to reply. He was thinking hard, so Ace thought he might not think he was good at anything. But he settled with that he was a mediocre doctor. Sabo asked if he could do stitches and work with burns or cut wounds. "Yeah. Those are easy."

Ace leaned back and said, "That's all we really need. So, you're the unofficial doctor. Unless you don't want to be," he backtracked. Deuce said he was mediocre, so maybe he didn't like that. But the newest member shook his head. He was fine with that role, as long as he didn't need to cure illnesses. But they just needed a first aid person.

When they reached the island a few days later, they realized why the name fell out of memory. The whole place was _trashed._ And _old_ trashed, not new. "I wonder what happened here," Ace asked, stepping over a human skull. It was a nasty place, there had clearly been a war or deadly battle.

In the East Blue? That was a bit surprising. Ace kicked aside the wall and saw more remains. Whatever happened was really old. "Maybe a war. I'm not sure. I read up on books in the East Blue, but the only war in this sea was on a different island than this one." The three left their tiny boat at the shore, and Ace turned around with a smile. "Our first adventure."


End file.
